


This is How the Story Ends

by Tseecka



Category: Castle
Genre: Angst, Feelings revealed, Grief, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-06 02:45:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1841401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tseecka/pseuds/Tseecka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It's a few seconds more before she realizes the string of curses is Spanish, and that quickens her pace. She's never heard Javier Esposito slip into his native tongue; he's an articulate guy, perfectly capable of expressing his distaste for criminals in the English language most of them understand. If he's screaming in Spanish...something's happened to Ryan."</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is How the Story Ends

**Author's Note:**

> Another R/E fill for Castle_Kink. Prompt: Esposito/Ryan deathfic. That's how the team finds out they were together. Rip my heart out, please. I don't care who you kill off.

The gunshot echoes in the tinny walls of the warehouse, rattling the loose, broken panes of glass and sending a chill down Beckett's spine. It's not the first time she's heard the sound, and won't be the last, but every time, her heartbeat quickens and she feels a pit of dread collect in the bottom of her stomach, that won't go away until all heads are accounted for.   
  
Her sensible heels don't slow her down as she races along between the shipping crates, sidearm at the ready, towards the sound. She knows her eyes are wide, her breathing shallow and strained, but she can't spare a thought to calming herself down. Not until she knows for sure.   
  
There's a rapid succession of gunfire, four shots fired off with barely a pause between them, and over the sound she can hear a hoarse, harsh cry. Male; distraught, but she can't quite make out the words he's yelling--screaming--over the echoes.   
  
It's a few seconds more before she realizes the string of curses is Spanish, and that quickens her pace. She's never heard Javier Esposito slip into his native tongue; he's an articulate guy, perfectly capable of expressing his distaste for criminals in the English language most of them understand. If he's screaming in Spanish...something's happened to Ryan.   
  
She rounds the corner, and finds Castle (she really shouldn't be relieved, but she is) holding Esposito by the arms as his legs kick and flail at the floor, striking a pose that would be comical if it weren't for the two sprawled bodies lying a few feet away. One of them is still alive, slumped against a post, blood oozing from gunshot wounds to his shoulder. but the other is stock still, face down on the pavement with a slowly growing pool of blood gathering under and around him. Beckett knows without looking, even as she's pulling out her cell, that it's Kevin Ryan. And as she's dialling for backup, and delivering the distasteful phrase "man down", she already knows there's nothing anyone can do for him.   
  
"Voy a matarlo!" Esposito screams as Beckett snaps her phone shut and approaches. Castle's got one arm wrapped around his, holding them behind his back, and the other slung across his chest. It's a struggle to keep him back. "Voy a matarlo!" She's surprised, a little, at the tears running down his cheeks, and she makes a conscious decision to stand in front of him, blocking his view of the man who's just killed his partner. Arms crossed, feet spread, and the taste of bile rising in her throat, she swallows hard and meets his eyes.   
  
"Javier." He ignores her, turning his head away, but his shoulders slump just a fraction and the mask slips, anger falling away to show utter brokenness. Castle releases his hold just a little. Beckett notes that he's not looking at Ryan's body, either. None of them are.   
  
None of them except Esposito, who's got his eyes fixated on the form lying there on the ground, as the sirens wail and paramedics get the suspect strapped onto a stretcher and whisked away in the ambulance. They're silent, all of them, and Esposito's not the only one with tears in his eyes now as Castle lets him go. All Beckett wants to do is fall on her knees and cry, and she stoically refuses to let Ryan's smiling face swim into her vision. There's time to grieve later, she tries to tell herself.   
  
Esposito's thinking no such thing, though. His feet drag him over to where Ryan's lying, so damn still, and he's on his knees in the puddle of blood without a second thought. Beckett feels the reassuring weight of Castle's presence at her elbow, his hand on her shoulder as they watch in silence. She won't say it, but she's grateful that he's there.   
  
With gentle, shaking hands, Esposito turns his partner's body over, gathering him up with Ryan's head in his lap. His fingers run through his hair, lightly trace over his shoulders, his arms, across his chest. His eyes shut tight, tears still manage to squeeze through, and fall on Ryan's face.   
  
"Mi corazon," he whispers, and Beckett's eyes--shut against her own tears--blink open. She feels Castle's hand tense on her shoulder, but neither says anything. "Lo siento, mi corazon. No te pude proteger...no lo pude parar...no pude despedirme de ti." He leans over, his fingers brushing now over the still cheeks, tracing the curve of his lips, before passing over his lids to close them. His own lips brush each eye, and even from their distance, Beckett can see Esposito's shoulders heave.   
  
She turns, and buries her face in Castle's chest, feels the comforting strength of his hands on her back--the reassuring humanity of his own heaving chest as he struggles to hold back tears of his own--and lets the tears come.   
  
The warehouse is silent.  
  


* * *

  
It's a sunny day, with a clear blue sky and a warm sun balanced by a cool breeze that runs through everyone's hair, dries the tears on their cheeks. Javier was glad the day had turned out well, he said. It didn't suit Kevin to be buried in the rain; his smile was echoed in the brightness of the day.   
  
Javier stood, silent, at the side of the grave, dressed in a simple black suit. His hands were folded in front of his, and his eyes shut tight as he wept and whispered a prayer to his deceased partner. As the attendees filed away, she made her way through the maze of folding chairs to stand at his side, resting her hand on his arm.   
  
"Javi," she said softly, using the nickname Kevin had coined for him--before any of them had ever known just what had happened between them. He swallowed, and turned to look at her, tears streaking his face.   
  
"Don't call me that," he said quietly, his voice holding barely any of its usual force. "That's....that was his. That was us." She can feel the emotional walls building around him, trying to push her away, but she just moves her hand and wraps her arms around him instead, resting her forehead against his shoulder, trying to comfort him in any small way she can.   
  
"I loved him, Kate," he says finally, voice so small, so broken that it breaks her heart all over again.   
  
"I know," she whispers back through her own tears.


End file.
